


Heads or Tails

by nsyncgrrl



Category: Music RPF, NSYNC, Pop Music RPF, Popslash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-23 00:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nsyncgrrl/pseuds/nsyncgrrl
Summary: Inspired by Jo Dee Messina's song, "Heads Carolina, Tails California."Lance and Justin manage to get a weekend to themselves, and they don't want to go back to their hectic lives just yet.
Relationships: Lance Bass/Justin Timberlake
Kudos: 1





	Heads or Tails

The road ahead stretched to the horizon, a faded two-lane highway the dingy gray of old tarmac. On the other side of the verdant meridian, twin lanes of oncoming traffic rushed to get back into the city Lance and Justin were leaving behind. They had spent the weekend away from the others -- just the two of them, trying to recapture a little bit of something they seemed to have lost along the way. With the tour and the album and the appearances on Leno and Rosie and all the morning shows, things had grown strained between them. They came back to the hotel rooms and the tour bus at night to just collapse in the bed, nothing more than a goodnight kiss to remind them of what they had together. When they managed more, they clung to each other with a desperation born of passion and lust and need that left them both reeling for more.

Somehow, they managed to slip away from it all -- the fans, the tour, the group, their families, everything that was drowning out what mattered most in the world, and for Lance that was Justin. So they packed a bag and Friday afternoon Justin tossed it into the back of Lance's Toyota 4-Runner before climbing into the passenger seat, a map between them and the address of a motel four hundred miles away. They spent the weekend locked in the single room of the Motel 6, only getting dressed to run out to eat or take in a show, and Lance couldn't remember when he had last felt so in love, so alive, so free. Waking slowly in the morning to Justin beside him, lingering kisses and loving touches and the pillow talk, the sighs, the moans, the hands and the legs and the arms around him so tight. Making love in the middle of the day or in the shower. Sitting in bed watching _Jerry Springer_ with nothing on but a pair of socks and the covers pulled up to their chins. Drifting off to sleep at night with Justin in his arms, his body curved into Lance's in a way that just felt so _right._ Falling in love all over again, and by Sunday afternoon Lance felt heady and dizzy and giddy, and he never wanted it to end.

And now here they were, headed back home. Seventy-five miles an hour in interstate traffic, rushing back to the house and the group and the phone calls that would wedge them further apart again. Lance didn't want that. He didn't want any of it, not anymore, not if it meant he would have to lose Justin along the way. That was one sacrifice he wasn't willing to make, for any reason.

He glanced over at his lover, sleeping in the reclined passenger seat. They had to be back with the group by one this afternoon, but even though they got up at six, time seemed to slip through their fingers like sand and they didn't even get on the road until after nine. Lance didn't think they'd make it by one. Right now, taking in Justin's closed eyes, his brow furrowed in sleep, his pouty lips slightly parted, Lance didn't _want_ to make it back. He was tempted to just take the next exit and drive until they ran out of gas. They'd stay wherever they ended up, just the two of them, together, forever.

He ran his fingers through Justin's curls, soft and cottony beneath his touch. Justin stirred awake, his hand reaching to catch Lance's in a tight clasp. Blinking in the sunlight, Justin yawned and stretched in the seat, squeezing Lance's hand in his. "We there yet?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

Lance laughed softly. "Not yet," he said, turning his attention back to the road. "We've only got another ... oh, four hours, or so." He winked at Justin, who smiled broadly at him. "You can go back to sleep, if you want."

"No, I'm awake," Justin said, but he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, Lance's hand in his on his lap. For a few miles they rode in a comfortable silence, the only sounds the steady _thump thump thump_ of the tires turning and the strands from the radio playing low. Finally Justin said quietly, "I had a great weekend."

"Me too," Lance admitted. He smiled, remembering Justin this morning, their bodies moving in a rhythm old when time began, hearts pounding, souls melding, voices raised in perfect harmony -- his blood raced just thinking of the way Justin felt inside of him, his arms holding him protectively, his whispers and promises and kisses in the early morning light. _All that will be gone again when you get home,_ his mind whispered, and though he tried to tell himself it wasn't like that, they could make it work, they _could,_ he still knew that things would work their way back to the way they were before -- the quick kisses, the desperate trysts, the pretending and the lies. The melancholy that draped his soul like a funeral shroud, the ache for something more, the need and desire he couldn't deny -- he saw that same need, that same desire, in Justin's eyes, and he knew, he just _knew_ they needed out. They needed to get away forever, to be alone forever, just the two of them, just _them._

A slight frown crossed Lance's face, and something in his manner made Justin look over and smile sadly. "I love you, Lance," he said gently. "You know that, right? I love you."

"I love you, too," Lance replied, and he tried to pour his heart into the words but they still sounded stale and perfunctory to his ears. What else could he say, what more could he do, to prove to the both of them that this was what he wanted in life? This man, this golden, delicious man beside him, and nothing more?

"I wish we could just do this forever," Justin said suddenly, and he sighed as he stared out the window, his thumb rubbing a smooth spot on the back of Lance's hand.

Lance looked at his lover sharply. "I was thinking the same thing," he said, smiling a little.

Justin laughed. "Really?" he asked. When Lance nodded, he sighed again. "Just you and me and this car, the money in our wallets, and the road stretching away forever. Where do you think we could go? Just the two of us. Until we run out of gas -- where do you think we'd stop?"

Shrugging, Lance said, "I don't know. Where do you want to go?"

Justin's hand tightened around his. "Anywhere," he said, a sudden urgency in his voice that made Lance glance over at him again. His eyes burned with a lapis light that spoke of adventure and spontaneity and forever. _Forever._ "I just want it to be us, Lance. Let's stop at the next exit, see where it takes us. Or keep driving, until the road disappears. Let's not go back. What do you say?"

Lance laughed nervously. It was one thing to think about it, to contemplate leaving the group and his family and everything else behind for Justin, but to actually _do_ it? To keep driving, past their turn-off, or to stop someplace they had never been? How crazy was that? He didn't think he had the courage -- "I don't know," he replied, taking a deep breath.

"Trust me," Justin said, and Lance met that steady gaze and just _knew_ it would work out. How could it not? As long as he had Justin, what more could he want? _Trust me ..._

"Okay," Lance said, and that giddy feeling from this morning returned, bubbling within him like champagne to tickle the back of his brain with the entire _concept_ that he wasn't going home, that he wasn't going back, that he and Justin would simply ... what? Ride off into the sunset together, like the heroes in those westerns he used to read as a kid. Before he could stop himself, Lance eased out of the flow of traffic and veered onto the shoulder of the road. Cutting off the engine, he turned and smiled at Justin. "Which will it be?" he asked, with more conviction that he felt. "The next exit? Or the end of the road?"

Justin grinned, and Lance knew it would be stellar, whichever path they chose. Digging into his pocket, Justin pulled out a quarter and held it up for Lance to see. Sunlight sparkled off of the silver gleam. "Heads, the next exit. Tails, the end of the road. You with me?"

"All the way," Lance replied. He watched as Justin flipped the quarter, and the coin turned quick somersaults in the air between them before Justin caught it. He slapped it down on the back of Lance's hand, still held tightly in his. Leaning over, Lance kissed Justin, his lips tender on his lover's mouth. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too," Justin replied. With a gleam in his eye, he smiled at Lance as he raised his hand slowly, drawing out the suspense, the anticipation -- their future rested on that silver coin, pressed between their hands. That warm metal caught between their flesh -- it was forever, heads or tails.


End file.
